Seal.



F. EGGE.

SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED DBO.1 6, 1909.

Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

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FREDERICK EGGE, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

SEAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

Application filed December 16, 1909. Serial No. 533,372.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK Econ, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, Fairfield county, Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Seals; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to seals such as are commonly used for the purpose of securing the contents of freight cars, and has for its object to provide a simple and economical device of this description which cannot readily be tampered with, and with this end in view my invention consists in the details of construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described and then particularly pointed out in the claim which concludes this description.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of my completed seal Fig. 2 an elevation of my improvement with the housing omitted-Fig. 3 a sectional elevation with the housing omitted showing the position of parts'immediately prior to locking-Fig. 4: a sectional elevation of a modified form of my improvement with a tubular housing, and Fig. 5 an elevation of the construction shown at Fig. 4, without the housing.

Similar numbers of reference denote like parts in the several figures of the drawing.

1 is a metal strap provided at one end with a tongue 2 having a perforation 3. At the other extremity of the strap'is formed a flat socket 4 through which the tongue 2 may be inserted, and confined within a recess 5 at the outer end of said socket is an elliptically shaped spring 6 whose arms ex tend above and below the socket while the extremities of the spring meet within the socket through perforations a, Z), in tlie upper and lower walls of said socket and are slightly curled inwardly as shown particularly at Fig. 3. The socket is inclosed by a housing in order to prevent anyone from obtaining access to the spring, and this housing is composed of two semicircular shells 7, 8, that are clenched together, the outer shell being riveted or otherwise secured to the end of the housing.

In applying my improvement the strap is bent around so as to bring the tongue 2 immediately opposite the socket and as said tongue is forced within the socket the extremity of the tongue will strike against the curved ends of the spring 6 and will force the same apart, and on the continued insertion of this tongue within the socket said ends will engage within the perforation 3 and thereby lock the parts together securely.

In Figs. I and 5 I have shown the spring located within a recess 9 at the side of the socket while the latter is totally concealed by means of a tubular shell 10 secured therearound, the operation of the parts being precisely the same as heretofore described with respect to the construction shown at Figs. 1, 2, and 3.

It will be noted that it is impossible to unlock the parts without separating the ends of the spring so that they will be completely clear of the perforation 3, and consequently this fact renders successful tampering with my improvement well nigh impossible.

It will be noted that, since the extreme ends of the spring normally extend through the perforations in the upper and lower walls of the socket and meet within said socket, said ends will at all times be en gaged with said perforations, since when the tongue is inserted it will merely separate these ends and will not dislodge them from said perforations, and therefore the position of said spring in all respects is precisely the same both in the locked and unlocked condition of the seal.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Let ters Patent is A seal comprising a strap having at one end a perforated tongue and having at the other extremity a flat socket provided with alined perforations in its upper and lower walls within which socket said tongue may be inserted, an elliptically shaped spring carried by said socket with its arms extending above and below said socket and having its extremities bent inwardly and per- In testimony whereof I affix my signature manently engaged with said perforations in presence of two Witnesses. and normally projecting through the latter and meeting Within said socket so as to be in FREDERICK EGGE' the path or said tongue When the latter is WVitnesses:

inserted therein, and a housing surrounding F. WV. SMITH, J12,

said socket. M. T. LONGDEN. 

